Calling man bald at work is sexual harassment, rules UK tribunal
London, May 13: Calling a man bald in the workplace falls within the purview of sexual harassment, an employment tribunal in England has concluded.
The three-member tribunal, led by Judge Jonathan Brain, had to determine whether a reference to someone's lack of hair was simply an insult or amounted to harassment.
The decision relates to a claim of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination brought by Tony Finn against the West Yorkshire-based British Bung Company, where he worked as an electrician for 24 years before he was fired in May last year.
In our judgment, there is a connection between the word 'bald' on the one hand and the protected characteristic of sex on the other," the judgment said.
The tribunal accepted that the lawyer appearing on behalf of the company, British Bung Manufacturing Company Limited, was right to submit that women, as well as men, may be bald.
"However, as all three members of the tribunal will vouchsafe, baldness is much more prevalent in men than women. We find it to be inherently related to sex," the judgment notes.
The case was heard at Sheffield in northern England over February and April this year.
A future date will be set to determine Finn's compensation after his claims of sexual harassment, unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal were upheld earlier this week.
A related claim of age discrimination was dismissed.
The incident related to Finn's complaint was with reference to an altercation in July 2019 when factory supervisor Jamie King reportedly referred to his lack of hair during an argument.
Finn told the tribunal: I was working on a machine that I had to cover awaiting specialist repair. The covers were taken off, and it was apparent that Jamie King had done this. When I spoke to him about it, he began to call me a stupid old bald cunt and threatened to deck me.'
Fearful for my personal safety I retreated to the nearby office of Ady Hudson, supervisor. Jamie continued his tirade of threats and abuse at the office door. This was witnessed by Ady.
The tribunal concluded that King did threaten the claimant with physical violence and made pejorative remarks about the claimant's age or appearance".
With reference to a previous case as precedent, they noted that it was held that a woman had been sexually discriminated against when a manager made a single comment to her about the size of her breasts .
The tribunal therefore determines that by referring to the claimant as a bald cunt' on 24 July 2019 Mr King's conduct was unwanted, it was a violation of the claimant's dignity, it created an intimidating, etc., environment for him, it was done for that purpose, and it related to the claimant's sex, the judgment reads.
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PM Modi is controlled by Donald Trump, wants to do the same in TN: Rahul Gandhi
Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being "controlled" by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Also, he claimed that the prime minister "handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries."
"You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence," Rahul said on the delimitation bill.
"He (PM) could not even face the opposition. He was sitting sideways. And the reason is, he is controlled by the United States. He signed the India-US deal that sold our country out," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.
He further said, "Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi's financial systems and understands Modi's link with Adani," the Congress leader alleged.
Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. "That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in TN," Rahul said.
The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.
